MOVIE REVIEWS

He might look good in a white T-shirt but the thing is, as Zac Efron gets older he looks more and more like an automaton. When he was younger, he had a charm about him - now he just looks like his life consists of nothing but the gym, the manscapists and a bath in yesterday's excess kale smoothie mix! Add to that really lacklustre performance some screaming from a competent youngster in Ryan Kiera Armstrong ("Charlie") and we are left with a very mediocre adaptation of this pretty lightweight Stephen King story that is big on pyrotechnic effects, certainly, but on very little else. There is a story: the youngster can cause things to combust at will when she gets stressed or annoyed; her father can bend people to his will making his eyes bleed in the process - quite an effective cure for smokers who want to give up; and her mother - Sidney Lemmon, well she too has a quirk - but I cannot remember what it was (but it definitely wasn't firefighting). Anyway, those who scientifically enhanced this family are hot on their trail - and it's all a question of who will prevail. Well it would be if you were still remotely bothered but after half an hour I just wasn't. For a movie about conflagration - it's sadly all a bit of a damp squib.

Eh, just another pointless remake/re-adaptation, although I don't mind it since the 1984 version wasn't great either. Nothing terrible but not anything special either. Performances were bland and not even the pyrotechnics weren't all that impressive. I guess it's fine to watch for free on Peakcock Premium but even so, you're really not missing anything. **2.25/5**

**Ironically, this fire never got going—total dud.** What? How? I didn't expect to be blown away, but I also didn't expect to be bored. I love Blumhouse flicks, and their fresh take on The Invisible Man had my expectations high for their version of Firestarter. Unfortunately, this was as straight to streaming as a movie could feel. Think Push (2009) but much more mediocre.

Add it to the “passible movies that are adaptations of Stephen King novels” pile, which is getting concerning-ly large. Regardless, I got to see the NOPE trailer on the big screen!